Accusations and athlete tensions came to a head in 2020 after the disputed re-election of Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko, also the NOC RB chairman at the time, and the widespread protests that followed.

[3] The 2021 measures reiterated the previous set, as well as stating that the IOC did not acknowledge NOC RB officials holding the government positions and requesting that Olympic selection in Belarus proved non-political.

[4] After the second sanctions in March 2021, and the IOC did not recognize the NOC RB leadership election results in the same month, other national committees and sports organizations heeded a plea for Belarus to get banned from the rescheduled Tokyo 2020, forcing the athletes to compete independently under the Olympic flag.

[5] Belarus fielded a squad of two artistic swimmers to compete in the women's duet event, by winning the bronze medal at the 2021 FINA Olympic Qualification Tournament in Barcelona, Spain.

[15] The four athletes who eventually contested the event – Aliaksandra Khilmanovich, Yuliya Bliznets, Elvira Herman and Asteria Uzo Limai – came last of all nations in the heats and did not advance.

Anastasiya Alistratava booked a spot in the women's individual all-around and apparatus events, by finishing fifteenth out of the twenty gymnasts eligible for qualification at the 2019 World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.

[22] On the men's side, Rio 2016 Olympian Andrey Likhovitskiy received a spare berth from the apparatus events, as one of the seven highest-ranked gymnasts, neither part of the team nor qualified directly through the all-around, at the same tournament.

Iryna Prasiantsova secured her selection in the women's race by winning the bronze medal and finishing second among those eligible for Olympic qualification at the 2019 European Championships in Bath, England.

Rowing crews in the men's pair and women's lightweight double sculls confirmed Olympic places for their boats at the 2019 FISA World Championships in Ottensheim, Austria.

[32][33] Another Belarusian rower scored a runner-up finish to book one of the remaining boats available in the women's single sculls at the 2021 FISA Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland.

[37] Set to compete at her sixth consecutive Games, Viktoria Chaika earned a direct place in the women's 10 m air pistol as the highest-ranked shooter vying for qualification in the ISSF World Olympic Rankings of 6 June 2021.

[41][42] Another Belarusian wrestler claimed one of the remaining slots in the men's freestyle 74 kg to complete the nation's roster at the 2021 World Qualification Tournament in Sofia, Bulgaria.

After several Belarusian athletes were disqualified due to not meeting the minimum drug testing requirements, national sport authorities entered her into the 4 × 400 m relay in addition to her planned events.